


Altered Kaleidoscope Dimension

by StarDaze3



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Eventual Romance, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow To Update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22645474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDaze3/pseuds/StarDaze3
Summary: Garnet Hernadez was your average 23 year old woman. She lived a life through a routine and she likes it that way. If there was a slight change that would have a major affect on her daily schedule, she would immediately enter the panic stageJust thinking about the future itself is enough to make an anxious person like Garnet lose all her composure.  Never did she think that the future would come around and snatch her away into a world that is unlike the one she's familiar with. She would definitely need all the help she can get to survive.





	1. The Prologue

I was never a risk taker. I always choose to take a cautious approach for every scenario that comes to mind. However, I wish I could say the same about my sense of direction. The lack of this skill places me at a disadvantage, especially when I am separated from my family in a general goods store and in large cities. 

Usually when this happens I panic without using my head. I suddenly forget what they look like and I would feel so scared. My family ends up finding me after the third time I searched for them. When this happens the height of my anxiety diminishes and I feel safe again knowing I’m in good hands. Nothing prepared me for the sudden change my life would take.

It all begins on January 9th...the day of my little sister’s fifteenth birthday party. My mom and I both stopped by the Shore Stop gas station after thirty minutes of driving from Exmore to Onley. She hands me her debit card to pay for the gas. “Hey mom,” I asked her, “$20 pump 1, right?” She looked at me and shook her head as a sign of acknowledgment that I was correct.

I stepped out of the silver car and closed the door. Immediately, I cling to myself to keep warm. The winds’ icy touch caused me to shake like a leaf falling from the trees in the middle of autumn. There was no sign of the blue canvas that painted the morning horizon. The skies took the shape of fluffy marshmallows.

While my mom was in the middle of beating level 784 in Candy Crush, I was filling up the gas for the car and made sure that the electronic numbers match exactly $20. Once I finished filling the car with gas I placed the pump back where it belongs, closed where the fuel would go, and went back into the warm car. “Ok, we are good and ready to go,” I told my mom. 

We drove off a few more minutes in silence until we found the entrance to Walmart or how my sister, Catalina would dub it, ‘Wally World.’ Both of us got out of the car and began to walk towards the entrance to the store. We looked both ways to see no cars pass by and cross the road. “Hey mom, what did we need to get for Camille’s birthday party?” I asked my mom. “Well mija, we need to find a small chocolate cake, cheesecake, some chicken for the mole, and a present para tu hermana,” she answered. “If we’re lucky,” I remarked, “She would actually appreciate the gifts given to her, unlike last month.”

“Now Garnet, that is no way to talk about your sister,” my mom berated me. “No matter what happens, she is still your family. Even if she is picky,” she answered. There was no room for argument. Afterall, my mom is always right. I let out a sigh and refrained myself from making a smart comment. The last thing I want to do is argue with my mom. “I understand.” My mom looked me right in the eye. We both know I wasn’t going to stop ruminating about what she said. But, this time she decided to let it go. “We don’t have much time. Garnet, I need you to go ahead and grab the desserts. I’ll go and get the chicken.” I shook my head and got ready to go when my mom stopped me. “After you get everything you need, meet me at the cosmetics department.”

With that being said, she drove the cart to the Meat section of the store to skim through the contents that were currently being displayed. I walked off on my own into the Bakery section of the store, trying to look for the specific kind of cheesecake with a variety of flavors. I can practically feel my mouth salivating from the strong aromas of freshly baked apple cinnamon pie and chocolate cake. I continued to scan through the display case of decadent desserts until my eyes landed on the turtle cheesecake.

I remembered back from last year that Camille mentioned that out of all the cheesecakes known to man, this is the one she prefers the most. When I went to make a grab for the chocolate and caramel drizzled cheesecake, a woman suddenly bumped into me. This caused me to lose my grip on the creamy custard delicacy and drop it onto the marble flooring. While I just stood trying to process what just happened, she placed something cold on my wrist. “Hey,” I exclaimed from the sudden contact.

She stopped momentarily to get a good glimpse of me. You wouldn’t believe what I have seen with my own eyes. There before me was a woman that had the same physical features as my own. Her long dark brown hair tied up in a messy bun, bronze skin complexion, her chubby stature, and her dark brown doe eyes were what caught my attention. She was also wearing the same clothes I was wearing. She was clad in a black weatherproof jacket, a red-blue plaid flannel shirt, skinny jeans, and my signature combat boots. Talk about seeing double vision.

She looked just as shocked as I was. But, her facial features quickly morphed into a mischievous smirk. It was like she was mocking me. “It’s your problem now,” she spoke to me for the first, and last, time before running off until I could no longer see her figure. “She didn’t even say excuse me,” I muttered to myself while checking to see if she took anything from my pocket. Well, nothing seems to be out of place. I look back to where the mysterious woman placed the strange object on my wrist.

It looked awfully strange. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It was cold and metallic, there was a red blinking light flashing before my eyes. Based on my intuition, the dial knobs on this device must be used for calibration. It looked like something the police would use to track someone down. One moment I was standing there, continuing to examine the device attached to my arm with awe. The next thing I knew, something flew past my ear and shot into the cake.

It scattered all over the place. Some of what’s left of the cake made landed on my jacket. I fell to the ground at the sudden fire. The strong odors of gunpowder and red velvet cake combined emit an unpleasant scent of burnt cake. I was only able to get a brief glimpse at the shooter. It was a man in business clothing, slicked back platinum blond hair, and aviator glasses shielding his eyes. He holds onto a picture I could not see. He examines the photograph and looks back at me. He aimed his gun at me and I struggled to get back on my fee as fast as I could. He missed by shooting the gun shell into a wall. “Hey, stop right there!” shouted the shooter.

I was no athlete, but I felt the adrenaline to survive kick into overdrive. I ran out of there trying to lose the shooter. I almost ran into another one of the shooters, so I ran in the opposite direction while pushing past people. I apologized briefly for my rude action. My heart was beating so fast, I felt my anxiety levels reach its limit. I was scared when I heard the sound of gunshots continuing to fire at me.

I had nowhere to hide when I was in the Electronics part of the store. Tears threatened to shed and I felt myself drown from these overwhelming emotions. Just when I was on the verge of suffering from one of my panic attacks, a hand placed itself across my mouth. Another arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me into the storage part of the store only the employees could go in.

I was about to cry out for help when the mysterious person spoke to me in a soothing tone as if I were a frightened animal...well I might as well be after being shot at. “Sh...Sh...breathe slowly...in and out.” I stared at his face to see his eyes were hidden by the black welding goggles. I let him guide me to breathe properly. When my heart beat returned to its normal pulse I took a good look at my hero. He didn’t look like he was from around here. What’s a city boy doing here in a storage warehouse? “I saw those guys trying to shoot at you,” he gazed into my orbs to see my reaction, “Why is that?”

At first, I was at a loss for words, but I frowned at him. I felt my face heat up from embarrassment and retorted, “How the hell was I supposed to know? I would’ve asked earlier if it weren’t for the fact that they tried to kill me!” He placed his arms up to calm me down, but that only made me more pissed off. “Hey, why don’t you calm down-,” he attempted to console me, but I abruptly stopped him. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down,” I growled at him, “I have a right to feel this way. How would you like it if someone used you for a target practice?”

He scratched the back of his head nervously and responded to my snarky statement, “Well...when you put it that way I guess not too well. Anyway, we don’t have time to talk. We need to leave this place right now.” 

He tried to grab my wrist, but I wasn’t having any of that and smacked it off when it made brief contact. “I am not going anywhere with you.” I objected him while poking at his chest, “Why should I trust you? How do I know you aren’t going to stab me in the back?”

He held onto my arm to show the damn contraption attached to me. “You can trust me. If I wanted you dead I would have killed you already and take this from your cold corpse,” He interjected,” Also I was the one that invented this tracker.” I stood there in confusion for a minute before coming back from reality. “That means you can take this stupid thing off of me.”

The stranger, who still held onto my wrist, studied the device before looking back at me. That blank look on his face was not very reassuring. It’s difficult to pinpoint what is going through his head. “Well...yes I could, but she did something to the device,” he explained to me,” I only have enough time to fix one feature on this tracker.” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. What does this thing do anyway and who is he talking about?

Before I could argue with him some more a stray bullet flew between us. It shot at the stuffed bear causing the poor thing to explode with the stuffing showering the ground. The strong stench of sulfur and and a mixture of unknown chemicals from the bullet was seriously giving me a major headache. “Well looks like they found us. Time to go now,” the mystery man said while pulling me close to him. 

He was pressing on the tiny buttons and turning random dials from the tracker attached to my wrist. “Can I at least know your name,” I demanded an answer from him. He looked at me while expertly turning the last three knobs on my wrist to activate the tracker. “You can call me Ax.” Before the suit cladded men could get any closer to us, Ax pressed the red glowing button and we disappeared.


	2. Chapter 1

The feeling of numbness is what envelopes my entire being. It’s almost like I’m not in my body. Slowly, I gradually begin to regain feeling on my finger and it trickles like cool raindrops; spreading towards all of my limbs. When I finally have control of my body I slowly stirred from my slumber and used my arms to elevate my figure. Once I propped myself up with my elbows I winced from the sharp pain and massaged my temples to alleviate my headache. 

I took a good look around the room to see if there is a sign of familiarity. Nothing in here, but a room flooded with electrical wiring connected to monstrous metallic creatures. It was dark and the occasional sparking sounds startled me. It didn’t help that the musty scent lingering in the air was only making my headache worse. I looked across the room to see a digitized clock bolted to the steel walls.

The time illuminated from the glowing green numbers. It was now 5:25 in the afternoon. I guess I was knocked out for nearly six hours. I carefully think back on the events that occurred before I fell unconscious. All I can remember is that Ax guy and the tracker attached to my arm. I looked at my right wrist to see said object still latching onto me. Great, so this is not a dream. When I struggled to stand up my legs refused to cooperate with me, becoming noodly, and I fell with a loud thud echoing the drafty warehouse. 

This caught the attention of a pair of blue glowing lights. It crept up to me calculatingly. I felt fear courses through my veins. I froze in place contemplating on the idea of running away and never looking back. I crawled back into the cold metallic walls and looked around to find the closest item I could use to protect myself. Never in my life have I felt so weak. I was scared out of my wits.

I have almost considered calling it quits when I brushed my hand against something that feels like steel. I grasped onto a lead pipe getting ready to smack the bolts out of this robot when another figure jumps in between us and snatches my weapon away from me. “Woah, woah woah,” Ax guarded the metal monster away from me. He tried to calm me down with words of reassurance, “Take it easy, princess. It’s just L.E.B.A.”

I glanced at the two and crossed my arms, “Don’t call me princess,” I scolded the man, “That thing nearly scared me back into a coma.” He stared at me with a brow raised at my words and said, “Now you’re just exaggerating. L.E.B.A. is not programmed to behave in a destructive manner.” I sat there feeling so lost for a moment and I find myself asking a question with a confused expression etched on my face, “Who the hell is Leba?”

As if on cue, the sounds of metal footsteps clanking against the cold concrete ground. The shadows unveiled the metal beast; towering us with it’s intimidating height. What surprised me was when it knelt onto the ground to meet our eye level and bowed its head. “I sincerely apologize for startling you miss. Allow me to introduce myself,” it spoke to me in a gentle monotonous tone.

This allowed me to become less tense and awkwardly shook my head. The machine took that as a silent invitation to continue speaking. “My creator has given me an acronym, L.E.B.A. It stands for Logical. Empathetic. Battle Armor.” I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t expecting for it to be friendly. Ax decides to take over the explanation, “As you can see here, L.E.B.A is programmed to perform different tasks that require the use of logic, while he is capable of determining the correct choice in many scenarios using empathy. He also acts as a shield to guard those who are in need of protection. In other words, he is not a threat. I believe you owe us an apology.”

I scoffed at Ax and got back on my feet successfully this time. Looking back at the man I took note of his physical features. His dandy medium fringe-up hair reflected by one of the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. It was the shade of a light pink fluffy cotton candy. Strangely enough, it went well with his pale skin complexion. Now his eyes were something different; something that can’t be easily obtained through genetic blueprints.With the goggles out of the way, you can see the orb’s color. It gave off an ethereal glow of warm amber in the shape of almonds. They were the most beautiful features I’ve ever seen.

Compared to my stature he is taller than me and he has a lean physique that is well-defined much similar to a Greek statue found in art museums. As for the article of clothing, he wore a dark blue skinny jeans, a white muscle shirt, a black leather jacket, and black converse shoes. “Well...I told you my name,” he begins to converse with me while fiddling with his thumbs, “It’s only fair for you to do the same.”

The silence was the only thing that blanketed the entire room. I was not about to give out my identity. Who knows what this guy is capable of since he apparently built a device to travel through dimensions. Then again, he did save me back there. That’s when I decided I’ll at least share my first name. “It’s Garnet.” The guy lets out a goofy smile and replied excitedly, “Now we’re talking,” Ax had this mischievous glint in his eyes, “We’re at a first name basis.”

There was something about that smirk that I can’t help, but to have the urge to smack it right out of his face. I was annoyed with that look and sarcastically replied, “Is there something you want to say to my face?” I’ll admit it was kind of funny to see his facial expression change quickly from entertained to regretful. “Oh nothing. It’s just...you know...you’re the only one out of all the people that tried to follow me through the portal and made it in one piece.”

It took me a few seconds to let he said sink in to my mind before processing the meaning of what he meant. “What do you mean by that,” I questioned the strange man, “Tell me you’re joking.” Just from my first impression of him I would have thought that he was just trying to get a reaction out of me. To my dismay his expression didn’t change. “I’m afraid he is not, miss,” L.E.B.A replied monotonously, “Those that followed my creator either lost some limbs and organs in the process of going through the portal to our dimension or remain lost in shrouded darkness forever to walk aimlessly with no means of escape.”

I felt cold sweat ran down my back and held onto myself as a form of comfort. “Y-you mean that I could have died in there,” I stammered. I turned back to face Ax only to smack him in the arm and growled, “Why didn’t you warn me about the consequences of dimension jumping, huh?” Ax let out a nervous chuckle and scratched at the back of his head out of habit. “Well...you see..I had to be quick since the androids were this close to capturing both of us...this seemed to do the trick,” he shrugged.

“I COULD HAVE DIED, ASSHOLE,” I screamed at him and lashed out at the idiot. He groaned and let me punch his chest multiple times to vent out my frustration. Eventually I tired myself out and crossed my arms. “You’re still alive; that’s all that matters,” he ignored my glowering stare and held onto a tablet that was sitting beside him on the table. He unlocked the device and said, “Anyways, we have other things to worry about.”

“Other things to worry about,” I scoffed at him and ranted, “What do I have to worry about besides dying?” He didn’t answer my question immediately. It looked like he was searching for something. When he found what he was looking for he turned the tablet to face me. I was staring at the photograph of the same woman who shared an uncanny resemblance to me. “Have you seen a woman that looks exactly like you?” he pried and pointed the picture out to me. 

“Well...yeah,” I was confused with what he was getting at and responded honestly, “She bumped into me, put whatever this thing is on me, and bolted without apologizing.” He was lost in his thoughts and muttered to himself, “Hm...I see.” he continued to talk while searching for more files. “Ok let me explain,” he clapped both of his hands and proceeded, “Are you familiar with the term doppelganger?” 

“Only in books and movies. Why?” I answered his odd question. But, I’m curious to see where the conversation was going. “The term Doppelganger comes from the german translation for double identity. They are usually depicted as evil versions of that person. But, sometimes they have their own reasons for committing such heinous acts that benefits them alone.”

“Ok, so what does that have to do with my situation here,” I questioned Ax. “I’ll get to that in a second. Anyways, the woman from the photograph was originally from this dimension,” he explained to me, “She was with me when we were both chased down by the androids.” 

“You mean the men in suits,” I asked. “Yes, now pay attention. We both decided that it was a good time to stay hidden from the outside world until we can come up with a plan that will hopefully keep us out of danger. While I was making sure that everything under the hood of the car was fixed, she took the opportunity to steal the tracker and ran away. And you already what happened from there.”

I felt my patience waning and crossed my arms across my chest to emphasize my current mood. “So, what’s your point?” There was a brief silence and then Ax let out an exhausted sigh, “It is not my place to determine why she decided to go rogue on me and shove all her problems to you. What I’m trying to say is that she basically switched places with you and stolen your life.” I was shocked to hear this. There were so many thoughts running through my head. At least trying to explain to my family about my sudden disappearance is no longer a problem. 

But, of course if it’s not one thing it’s the other. A new problem has taken its place to ruminate in my mind. Why did it have to happen to me? Out of all the people in this universe I was the one left to face a problem that wasn’t even mine to begin with. “That bitch,” I muttered under my breath and clenched onto both my fists, “She thinks she can pull a fast one on me and get away with it. All I’m hearing right now is complete and utter bullshit. Since it’s both of your problem we need to go back to my dimension so I can go home, forget any of this ever happened, and you can take what’s her name back with you.”

Ax place a hand on my shoulder, look me in the eye and sighed, “I hate to break it to you, but things just got a lot more complicated.” I glanced at him and shoved his hand off of me and growled, “ What’s so complicated about returning me to my proper dimension and finding my doppleganger?” He grasped both shoulders and gave me a stern look, “I’m gonna stop you right there. I know right now you are feeling lost and I totally get that, but you are not seeing what kind of situation you are in.”

I did not enjoy being touched and tried to get out of his firm grip, however he did not plan on letting me out of my sight. There was no point in arguing; we’re basically walking around in circles. All it took was a few deep breaths to regain my composure. I gave him my complete attention and said, “Then make me understand. What is it that I’m not seeing?” It seemed that Ax was relieved that I was finally cooperating.

“I know it’s difficult for you to comprehend, but even if I do find Ruby and return you back home the androids and the one who is responsible for sending them is not going to want any witnesses to live. They won’t go after Ruby anymore since she no longer poses a threat. You on the other hand are a different story, especially with the tracker strapped onto your wrist.” I almost completely forgot about the device that started this whole mess in the first place. I look back at the device that was latching onto my wrist and turned to face Ax. “Now that you mention it you never took it off. Why?”

“Oh...that’s right! Let me look at it for a second.” I gave him my arm and he tried to unlock it, but when he entered the password it denied him. He looked confused and I don’t blame him. After several attempts he moved on to examine to see if the tracker has been tampered. He pressed on a tiny button from the side I had no idea was there and took out a purple microchip. He frowned a bit and solemnly replied, “This microchip is the prototype for the tracker. Although it did function enough for us to travel to different dimensions safely, there are only a few of its features that are limited for the device. Ruby must have hidden it safely; only she would know.”

“Does that mean I’m stuck to this stupid piece of junk?” I cried out. He gave me a judgemental look and said, “That stupid piece of junk you were talking shit about is my greatest achievement. So I’d watch my words if I were you.” I didn’t think he would be that bitter about my comment; man was I wrong. I decided to remain quiet and let him concentrate on finding a solution. He just stood there with that blank expression until it brighten up. He looked at the synthetic humanoid and asked, “ L.E.B.A, did Ruby recorded a video log before she left this dimension?”

L.E.B.A searched through his database and responded to his creator, “As a matter of fact, she did. There is only one problem: she put a password on this specific file. When I was about to question her purpose of this safety measure she insisted that this would have no complications for you. Apparently I was wrong to dismiss this. It might help that I did track her location when she left the warehouse. It will take some time before I search for the exact location where she was.” 

Ax got up to his desk and began searching through different files. I went behind him and ask, “What are you doing?” He didn’t look back at me, but he quickly responded, “Why didn’t I think of this. I remembered something out of the laws of traveling through dimensions.” I stood there dumbfounded, “You’re speaking gibberish. What is it you’re trying to say.” He continued to browse through different files on scientific notes. “There’s a theory I have been working on ever since I have created the tracker. It might be suitable to your situation. I call it an Equivalent Exchange Theory.”

A theory that is based on my situation now this is something I need to hear. “Well what is it?” He stopped at a specific page that was dated back a month before. “We were working on the trials for the tracker. One of the test subjects that participated in this trial encountered their doppleganger. But, if they are in the same room for a certain amount of time they both die.”

I winced at the mention of death. The fact that I was this close to dying a couple of hours earlier does not help. “Yeah, I figured as much through books and movies.” He slammed his hand and I jumped a little from the sudden noise. “You don’t get it. You’re still alive after being in this dimension for six hours despite the fact that you are not from this plane of existence. The way it works is that if someone with similar features in this dimension is able to trade places with another person within the time limit, then it won’t disrupt the balance.”

It’s definitely a lot to take in. I’m no scientist, but that does make sense. But, this entire situation has literally thrown out everything that I’ve known and decided to fuck with me. It’s bad enough that I had felt lost and alone in my previous dimension, but was it necessary to put emphasis on it when someone basically stolen my identity and made it their own. My mind continued to wonder where it all went wrong. Ax snapped me out of my head and said, “Hey focus! Since you’re here, you might as well help me save my dimension from the utter corruption of the government, no thanks to Chronos Corporation.”

I tilted my head to the side as a sign of confusion and said, “Corruption from the government? Wait a second, you never even told me where I am exactly.” I accused the man for the lack of information I need to piece together the situation I found myself in the predicament. “Hm...it’s hard to say. This world is almost like yours, but there is a major difference between the two. For one, there are some of us that have powers in this universe. To their misfortune, they are looked down upon by our government.”

I was surprised, “Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold up. Do you have powers? What kind is it?” Ax hold his hands up to stop me from asking any more questions, “I don’t have powers, but anyways your dimension is not as bad as our situation here.” I gave him a deadpan look and asked, “Worse than global warming?” He responded, “Definitely worse. We are talking about the Chronos Corporation trying to find a way to stay in power and control everyone using advanced technology known as the Oculus.”

I snorted at the choice of name, “Weird name. What does it do?” Ax had this serious look on his face which got me to settle down and he continues to explain, “Here in this dimension, you get a chip implanted into your brain. The purpose of this is to allow us to synchronize with the technology. As I mentioned before about the Oculus, the Chronos Corporation is going to use this machine to control everything from the health department to the armed forces, which by all mea-”

I raised one hand to stop him in mid-sentence and replied dryly, “Let me get this straight. You basically want me to risk my life to help you stop some crazy businessmen from taking over the world.” Ax frowned and let out a witty response, “Well, you didn’t need to be rude about it, but yes for the sake of this dimension I ask of you to help me stop Chronos from using the Oculus before it’s too late. What do you say?”

I crossed my arms and scoffed at the man, “I would say that you are insane. I clearly didn’t sign up for this. What makes you think I’m going to give my life up for some dimension I was never part of in the first place hm?”He went on both knees and gave me puppy eyes, “Please, no one else would help me.” I really tried to look away, but why did he had to make such a cute face. God I feel bad now. I let out an exhaustive sigh, “I’ll help you, only if you stop giving me the eyes.” Ax let out a burst of laughter and hugged me. The sudden action surprised me and I’m not much of a hugger. I stood rigid and pushed him off of me, “Ok, ok, enough with the hugging, now what’s the plan, genius?”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> When I was in the community college for my creative writing class, our first assignment was to write a verisimilitude story. This is my first original story I have ever written. 
> 
> I plan to continue writing more chapters and see where this story goes. Fill free to correct me for any grammatical and punctuation errors. I want to improve my skills as a future writer. I hope you all have fun reading this!


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